In 1990 I was asked to design a course for Trinity College in their adult education program (yes, I’m still tossing out files. I’m doing pretty good on this New Year’s Resolution no. 7. Not so much on the others). This was a degree completion course for adults in mid-career and mid-life. The project of designing that course turned into some on-going consultation work, and eventually led to the creation of a life-changing retreat.

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We can all appreciate that homeostatic forces are powerful dynamics in systems, from family to governments. Homeostatic force has at least two characteristics: (1) its force comes as a multigenerational tidal wave, and therefore difficult to resist, and (2) like a tidal wave, it is an unthinking force. Meaning, you can’t reason with it.

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As I was throwing out some old files and materials (New Year’s Resolution no. 7, still working on it) I came across the results of a survey we conducted through Educational Consultants over a decade ago for a large local church. The comprehensive survey yielded a list of thirty-four distinct program “goals” educational leaders wanted to focus on. Needless to say, when you get that many distinct goals on a wish list it’s a sure sign of organizational fragmentation.

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Throwing out some old files and materials (New Year’s Resolution no. 7) I stumbled across an old final exam from a course I offered over two decades ago when I was teaching adjunctively. Reviewing the course material I was struck at how clunky the course was. Whoever let me loose on those poor graduate students during those years will be doing hard time in Purgatory. Being young and foolish is one thing; young, foolish, and passionate is a deadly combination. It seems I had yet a lot to learn about pedagogy and course design.

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